The Ex Killer Series

by Bridget Bundy

  I had to see Alex. Maybe, he was at the house alone, and I would surprise him. I could not resist.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  I decided to leave out the back door and take the woods to the main road and walk over to Alex’s house. I can avoid the crowd that way. The air was warm, and the moon was beautiful in the sky.

  The road was dark, and I kept hearing bugs and frogs. I ran because for some reason the noises scared me. Maybe, I was scared because I knew I wasn’t supposed to be going to Alex’s house without his permission. But I couldn’t help it. I was hoping he was there, and we could spend time together. I could see the house in the moonlight. It cast a scary shadow that stretched along the grass. I ran up the long driveway and stopped when I got to the bottom of the steps. They creaked as I went up, and I walked the length of the porch. He wasn’t home. Where was he?

  I wished I belonged in this house. I wish I could live here and be welcomed here by his entire family. I tried the front door, and it was open. I stepped inside and inhaled the old fragrances. A light wind blew barely lifting a few sheets. I went to each room and imagined. I dreamed of being the lady of the house, dressed in the finest clothes. Alex at my side, with his arm around my waste, holding me close, and he was so proud to call me his wife. He’d give me roses, diamonds, and money. I was the one person in his life that mattered.

  I lay on the master bed, and I let my hands flow over the soft comforter. I could see him clearly. Alex was beside me, and then we’d make love. He couldn’t get enough of me, and I couldn’t get enough of him. I’d look healthy and beautiful. My hair was perfect. My makeup was perfect, and Alex would tell me how perfect I was. Ah, perfection.

  My dreams never seem to come true, but Alex was my hope. I felt like he was my only hope. I walked out of the house still yearning for him, not wanting to leave, but I had to. No matter how much I dreamed and wanted, I still had no business there.

  I walked home the way I came, still ducking in the woods away from the mob outside of my apartment. I called Alex one more time before going to bed, and still he didn’t answer. I gave up for the night. I would start again tomorrow. He would answer his phone. He had to answer his phone.

  THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2009

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  I was at work, and I couldn’t get my mind off Alex. I haven’t spoken to him in almost two days, and I was beginning to worry if I did something wrong. Did I sleep with him too soon? Was I too easy? I didn’t consider myself to be loose. Without contact from him, I was in limbo. I hated that feeling of not knowing what’s going on between us.

  I had to get my mind back on task. I had work to do. There were so many people going around the nursing home that day getting ready for the Memorial Day weekend events. There was a big celebration planned honoring members of the armed forces who use to be residents of the nursing home. A dinner party was set for Friday, and a barbeque was scheduled for all day Saturday. A memorial service would be set up for Sunday on the first floor. Kids were also coming by this weekend to hand out flowers, entertain them with a concert, and possibly even play board games.

  Yellow streamers were being hung in hallways. Maintenance guys were rolling in helium tanks for the balloons, and yellow roses were being placed in every room. I was pretty much out of the way. I cleaned the entire second floor that day. One of the ladies was out, and I had to fill in. I was done thirty minutes before it was time for me to clock out. Tanie was picking me up, and we had to get a particular object. It was a key element to my plans.

  When I finished changing clothes and stepped out of the locker room, Sherrie was standing in the hallway. She scared me. I thought no one was down in the basement.

  Sherrie was wearing her normal suit with a crisp button down white shirt. Her shiny brown hair hung neatly down her back in waves like she just come from the beauty salon. She’d been around all day because she was in charge of getting the place ready for the festivities this weekend, and I managed to stay hidden from her until now.

  Sherrie handed me the timecards from the days I was late, and I looked at them strangely trying to act like I had no idea what they were.

  Sherrie stated as she folded her arms, “You were late for work May 15th and yesterday. Any excuses you think you may have for being late twice is not acceptable.”

  I started to try and explain the car fiasco, but I stopped. I knew it wouldn’t do any good. She wasn’t going to listen.

  “If you are late one more time, Angela, I will have to let you go. My residents expect timely service, and therefore, I expect you to be at work in a timely manner.”

  “I won’t be late again.” I was completely annoyed by her. I didn’t need to be preached at.

  What I really wanted to do was cuss her ass out and lay her out on the floor with my fist, but I didn’t want to go to jail. They’d probably never let me out since she is the daughter of one of the richest men in Colum. I might even get the death penalty the way things worked around this town. That would be the downfall of being married to Alex. I can see her coming over whenever she wanted and starting problems. I would hate to have her as a sister in law.

  “I will have paperwork ready for you to sign Friday when you come in. All failures are documented and must be signed. There is no choice in the matter. Am I understand, Angela?”

  “Yea, okay.” I handed her the timecards and walked away. I didn’t even bother to clock out. She pissed me off anyway. That stupid job! Why did I even waste my time there? I wasn’t going any place working at a nursing home as a janitor. I wasn’t going to amount to anything, cleaning up vomit and shit.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  My wait for Tanie wasn’t long. She drove up nearly screeching to a halt in front of me. I hopped into the car and before I could get my seatbelt on, she took off.

  I asked her, “Why are you in such a hurry?”

  “I just feel like driving fast, feeling a little frisky.” Tanie laughed as she ran a red light. All I could do was hang on and hope we didn’t get into an accident. We were on our way to see Margaret Madison, who lived down the road from where I lived. Her home was in walking distance of Covington Point, and sometimes Andrea walked to her house to get a drink.

  I’ve mention Margaret Madison before, but never really said anything about her. Margaret was the local bootlegger in Colum. She was the only bootlegger. That’s all she did was sell liquor. The Sheriff Department knows about her business, too, but chooses to do nothing about it. Well, now that I think about it. There is a new Sheriff, and I have no idea what he knows. But the old Sheriff knew about Margaret and her dealings and never stopped it. Why? Because she was Roscoe Madison’s sister and Roscoe Madison had the police in his pocket. If Roscoe and Margaret get paid well and business is not interrupted, so does the police. It’s just that simple.

  Because it was that way in this town, it spawned drug and alcohol problems, especially where I live. Most of the people standing around in the parking lot in the latter part of the evenings are doing the drugs and drinking the alcohol and age doesn’t seem to matter. I hated drugs. I would never destroy my body on that stuff, but I liked drinking alcohol. It made the parties much more fun.

  Margaret Madison was a woman with impeccable taste in clothing. She always dressed in the best fashions, make up always flawless, and her hair never out of place. Margaret was a proud woman and very intelligent. She never drinks and never takes drugs, and I was told once she never gets sick. Not a sniffle or cough or aching bones. Many of the old winos in Colum loved Margaret, and many of the true gentlemen did, too. She was a beautiful lady, and she knew it. I may be of the same gender, but that fact never got passed me on how gorgeous that lady was. Margaret never married, but she loved only one man in her lifetime, the father of her son.

  Margaret kept a straight mind with those drunks that visited her house. She made sure her money was straight, and her son always kept people in check.

  I didn’t like Margaret. I always thought she
was a mean lady, only cared about money. If you tried to cheat her, you got hurt. Andrea tried to take advantage of Margaret a long time ago, and she ended up getting messed up by Margaret’s son. Now, Andrea goes over there mindful of what she does.

  Tanie and I pulled into Margaret’s driveway, which started out as asphalt, but halfway up it turned into dirt. I can’t imagine my sister walking up this driveway at night surrounded by woods when she’s intoxicated. It can get so scary because you can’t see anything.

  Tanie parked the car by a huge rock beyond Margaret’s yard, and we both peeped through the front window at her brick home. It wasn’t very big. It was a one story with blooming flower beds circling the house. I thought that was comical actually. She sells alcohol illegally, and she has the prettiest flowers in town. Her yard had perfectly mowed grass. She had wind chimes hanging in the lower branches of a couple of trees in the front yard. Her home looked more like a grandma’s house than a bootlegger’s house.

  Tanie remarked, “You have to go by yourself.”

  “Why?” I asked as I watched a guy leave out of Margaret’s front door.

  “The moment she sees me, she’ll be asking questions. I don’t feel like being grilled by this lady.”

  “What’s wrong with her asking you questions?”

  “Anything I tell her, no matter how small or unimportant it is, she’ll go back and tell Roscoe.”

  “Tanie, you know I don’t want to deal with that woman by myself.”

  “I don’t know why you so worried.”

  “I’m not worried. Okay, fine, how much will the liquor costs?”

  “Here,” Tanie put cash in my hand and said, “The liquor you want is very expensive. That should be enough, and let her keep the change.”

  As I walked to the front porch, I was looking around the front yard, looking as far as I could to the woods line, wondering if anyone saw me. I was being paranoid for no reason. There wasn’t anyone outside or in the woods.

  Before I got to the top of the step, the door opened. Margaret’s son was wearing a dirty white t-shirt and blue jeans. He looked like he was mad. I became nervous, and my words couldn’t come out of my mouth as we stood staring at each other.

  “Albert! Don’t stand in the door like that! You letting the flies in!” Margaret yelled from the back of the house, and he moved out of the way so I could come in.

  He commanded, “Hurry up and come on in! You heard what she said.”

  I rushed ins. Albert went into the kitchen, and soon Margaret came out wiping her hands on her apron. There was no one in the living room, which surprised me. I guess all of her guests were in the back yard out of sight. The living room was nicely decorated with ivory decorative wall paper and flowers, and the furniture looked brand new. The house smelled like jasmine, and there was jazz music playing from her stereo.

  I remarked, “Miss Madison, I need to buy Tike Vodka.”

  “You want a shot or the bottle?” Miss Madison was eye balling me from head to toe.

  “The bottle,” I answered.

  She folded her arms over her chest and said, “That brand of vodka is very expensive, Angela.”

  I showed her the money and gave it to her. I remarked, “I hope that’s enough.”

  She put the money in her bra, and she went to a door. She unlocked it slowly, went inside, and she closed the door behind her. It wasn’t long before Miss Madison came out holding a paper bag with a glass bottle in it. She handed it to me and said, “Your sister doesn’t drink that vodka. Why are you getting it?”

  “No reason,” I answered and walked out the door before she could ask another question. I ran back to Tanie’s car, and she turned the car around and drove out. She saw Miss Madison in her rearview mirror standing on her porch before we drove out of sight.

  “I didn’t see one person in her house drinking or nothing like that. The house was empty.”

  “She doesn’t allow drinking in her house anymore, Angela. Roscoe had a barn built out back, and everyone goes to the barn and drink now.”

  She brought up his name, and I became nosy. Tanie hardly ever, if ever, talked about Roscoe, and I wondered if I asked her about him now, would she tell me? I had to ask, “Tanie, between me and you, I have to ask you a question. Why do you work for Roscoe if the work is dangerous? I don’t understand.”

  “Why do you work in the old folks’ home? I don’t understand that.” She was being smart.

  “It’s not the same. The things you do for Roscoe…”

  “Is my business. I do the job because I get paid really good money, Angela. Nothing else in this town comes close to what he pays me.”

  “You’ve heard the rumors, though, right? You’ve seen the truth with your own eyes. He’s killed people that worked for him. He’s the reason for a lot of people being dead. Remember that guy name Nick, I think that’s his name. He worked for Roscoe, and he’s dead now.”

  “Yea, but Roscoe didn’t kill him.”

  “The word is Roscoe had something to do with it.”

  Tanie started laughing at me. She remarked, “Who is saying Roscoe had something to do with it?”

  “I can’t come up with a name, Tanie. It’s just something I’ve heard.”

  “What you’re talking about is old news and left over lies. How do you know for sure Roscoe killed that dude?”

  “I don’t know for sure.”

  “Then let it go, Angela. One thing you don’t want to do is start rumors involving Roscoe.”

  “I just worry about you, Tanie.”

  “There is no need to worry about me. We’re not going to talk about Roscoe anymore, for real.”

  She took up for him with no problem. I was beginning to think she was more loyal to him than to me.

  Tanie and I sat in front of my apartment looking at the bottle of Vodka. This bottle was the beginning.

  She asked as I stared at the label, “You want me to take the bottle to my place?”

  “Maybe, you should because if Andrea finds it, she’ll drink it.”

  “This is the one thing we won’t be able to erase once it’s done.”

  “I won’t have a single regret.” I remarked confidently.

  Tanie smiled and said, “I’ll pick you up tomorrow after work.”

  “I’ll see you then.”

  I left the bottle on the passenger’s seat and went inside. No one was home, and it was fine with me. I needed the privacy anyway. I went directly to the bathroom, took the bowl of pills from under the sink, and I locked myself in my bedroom. I put all the pill samples on Olivia’s bed, and I sat down on mine and looked at them. There were a lot of pills. I had no doubt in my mind this was going to solve my problem.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  It was around 10 p.m. before I came out of my room again. The apartment was silent. Andrea was probably at Margaret’s house or even in her bedroom. I went directly to the phone to call Alex, hoping this time he would answer the phone. To my surprise, he did answer.

  I asked in a whisper, “Are you busy right now?”

  “No. Are you alright?”

  “Yea, I’m fine.” I answered, “Where are you?”

  “I’m on the way to my parent’s house, and then I’m going by my house. You want me to come by and pick you up?”

  “Oh God, no!” That came out way too fast, but I didn’t want anyone seeing me get in the truck with him, especially Jason. “Sorry, Alex, can you meet me at the entrance to the parking lot?”

  “Give me thirty minutes, and I’ll be there.”

  “Alright,” I hung up the phone, all excited about seeing Alex again. Oh my goodness, about time. I was missing him too much.

  I got dressed in some comfortable shorts and a tank top. I went out the back door and took the long way behind the building to the wood line and followed it to the main road. I was trying to avoid Jason as much as possible. The parking lot didn’t have very many people, which I thought was strange because the parking lot is usually full. I did
n’t see Jason, but I did see his car parked at his mom’s apartment.

  Alex arrived, and he was about to turn into the parking lot when he saw me standing at the corner of the main road. He stopped, and I jumped in. It had the scent of his cologne hanging in the air, and it brought me back to the moment we first shared each other. I was hoping we would share another moment that evening. Alex leaned over to kiss me. He was so sweet. I loved being around him. I got love from him that nobody in the world gave me.

  We went to his house, and we sat on the back porch on the top step looking out into the darkness. There were lamps lit that set around the bottom of the front step. It was a nice evening, the moon was high in the sky, and the stars were showing off for us.

  Alex was gazing up, and I wanted to lay on him and kiss him. But I didn’t make a move. I was afraid. My heart was beating fast.

  Then he asked, “Do you mind if I ask you about your mom?” Now, if that wasn’t a question to kill my lust.

  “You want to talk about my mother.” I answered, “Okay.”

  “What was she like? And I’m not talking about how she looked.”

  “What was she like?” I could see her face. I said, “My mom was like the sun, and my sisters and I were like the planets. I’m not saying she was self-centered or anything like that, but she was like a shining star to us. She was everything. She was there whenever we needed her. Like with Olivia, if she had problems with any of her school work or problems in school, my mom made it a point to help her. I remember once Olivia was reading this novel in some kind of literature class, and she was having a hard time with it because sometimes the language was hard to understand. Mom read through it with her and she got an A on her final exam. Then with Andrea, she worked two jobs to help her get through nursing school. She worked at the nursing home and at the tire plant.”